Archive for the ‘Aida’ Category

But can the writer really remember that many divine details of the performance?

Last Thursday, after boos from the La Scala crowd, Roberto Alagna walked off stage during his performance in Aida at La Scala. When the audience realized he was not coming back they shouted , “Vergogna! ” (shame) and “Buffone!” (fool!)

La Scala later served Alagna notice that he would not be invited back to complete the run.So then,

“Alagna descended into full-fledged grassy knoll paranoia talking about mysterious threatening phone calls, unknown figures making karate chop motions in his direction as he entered the theater Sunday night, and other signs that the La Scala was conspiring to force him out. When that didn’t fly, he gave physical problems a whirl — my throat closed up, my blood sugar plummeted, why didn’t Chailly stop the performance to check on me?; that’s what Muti did when Domingo nearly fainted in ‘Otello’ — they could wait an hour for Domingo and not a few minutes for me?, and who was that mysterious tenor in full costume warming up in my dressing room when I came in Sunday night?”

Now Corriere reports that Thursday evening, since he had been replaced onstage, Alagna took to the piazza in front of the opera house to stage his own ‘one-man show’ in piazza!

“Presenting himself a few minutes before the beginning of the performance inside of Aida, Alagna began to sing his part, surrounded by curious onlookers and photographers.

Then with his cell phone, he snapped a photo of the theater. ‘I came to have a reminder, my last happy memory of la Scala, since I don’t know when I’ll be able to see her again.'”Ah Italia! Wish I’d been there. You know I like piazza life.Sunday eve I did pass through Chicago’s Piazza San Giovanni. A few drunk guys were singing about football…. -E

But can the writer really remember that many divine details of the performance?

Last Thursday, after boos from the La Scala crowd, Roberto Alagna walked off stage during his performance in Aida at La Scala. When the audience realized he was not coming back they shouted , “Vergogna! ” (shame) and “Buffone!” (fool!)

La Scala later served Alagna notice that he would not be invited back to complete the run.So then,

“Alagna descended into full-fledged grassy knoll paranoia talking about mysterious threatening phone calls, unknown figures making karate chop motions in his direction as he entered the theater Sunday night, and other signs that the La Scala was conspiring to force him out. When that didn’t fly, he gave physical problems a whirl — my throat closed up, my blood sugar plummeted, why didn’t Chailly stop the performance to check on me?; that’s what Muti did when Domingo nearly fainted in ‘Otello’ — they could wait an hour for Domingo and not a few minutes for me?, and who was that mysterious tenor in full costume warming up in my dressing room when I came in Sunday night?”

Now Corriere reports that Thursday evening, since he had been replaced onstage, Alagna took to the piazza in front of the opera house to stage his own ‘one-man show’ in piazza!

“Presenting himself a few minutes before the beginning of the performance inside of Aida, Alagna began to sing his part, surrounded by curious onlookers and photographers.

Then with his cell phone, he snapped a photo of the theater. ‘I came to have a reminder, my last happy memory of la Scala, since I don’t know when I’ll be able to see her again.'”Ah Italia! Wish I’d been there. You know I like piazza life.Sunday eve I did pass through Chicago’s Piazza San Giovanni. A few drunk guys were singing about football…. -E